Ulanti

Noble House Ulanti is one of the six Noble Houses of the Spire. Its territory includes a palace with a needle-thin tower on the outside of the spire, famously the former home of "Mad" Donna the daughter of old Sylvanus Ulanti, current House patriarch.

Part of the complex trading relationship between Noble and Hive City Houses, the Ulanti Contract is a lucrative deal whereby the Hive City Houses compete to supply the core requirements to House Ulanti exclusively (while the House itself competes with the other Noble Houses to buy the other Houses' produced goods).

Many centuries ago, House Delaque supplied the Contract, but in a bid to usurp them House Orlock bribed dozens of Undehive gangs to sabotage Delaque mining and supply operations, destroying fuel lines to a Delaque guild factory and so utterly disgracing them in the eyes of House Ulanti, who were quick to award the contract to the Orlocks instead.

But while the Ulantis owned many of the resources for the Contract, simply leasing them to the operators of various trade contracts to harvest, the Delaques refused to turn them over to House Orlock, seizing them as their own and blockading the supply lines, transport routes and mine entrances around the Contract zone in retaliation, escalating the feud.

The Orlocks had no problem producing Iron and most other minerals and metals, simply using their existing pits, forges and factories, but they were forced to take more direct action to acquire the many fuels needed to manufacture las-cells which were scarce while the Delaque blockade was in place. Lord Ammonus Orlock II sent a dozen or more Orlock gangs, led by his youngest son Kagill in person to seize Drypus Falls and the valuable fuel production facilities that were there. Outnumbered and completely taken aback by this blatant display of hostility, the Delaques realised no victory was possible and planted charges instead, setting the chemical rivers that fed Drypus ablaze and blasting the Falls' canyon into pieces, killing dozens of Orlocks and the many Delaques too slow to escape.

Such open warfare drew the attention of the Noble Houses to the mounting feud, and Lord Arius Helmawr was forced to intervene. Openly, he ruled that the Delaque's actions were unacceptable, voiding all contracts with them, but in private he used it as an opportunity to make the well known Delaque-Helmawr connection less obvious, offering them handsome rewards as his eyes and ears in Hive Primus on the condition they kept the arrangement secret. In a gesture to the Delaques Helmawr accused the Orlocks of failing to keep their gangs in check, and despite his protests, forced Lord Ammonus to outlaw and exile his son Kagill who had been among only a handful of survivors of Drypus, threatening the loss of the Ulanti Contract if he did not comply.

From that day forward the two houses have been bitter enemies, their hatred remaining unabated, and they have taken every opportunity to sabotage, slander and discredit each other; the violent rivalry remains despite the cessation of open warfare.

Like the sons and daughters of most Noble Houses, young Ulantis are sent in Spyrer teams (or if preferred, individually) to the Underhive to prove themselves tough and resourceful enough to take their place among the ruling families. The Ulantis have an exclusive Hunting Club, which one solo Orrus hoped to be allowed to join after completing his vow of ten kills (ten times the usual requirement) and returning beyond the Wall.